The standard acoustical guitar has not changed dramatically for perhaps a century. Three of the main ingredients that make one guitar superior over another are, volume, sustain and balance.
There are two main types of acoustical guitars, classical or nylon string and steel string, steel string having two main types, flat top and arched top.
This bridge invention may be used to improve all of these guitars. To help in understanding this invention, knowledge of the background of the classical guitar is helpful.
The classical guitar reached one of its evolutionary plateaus with the designs of the designer Antonio Torres.
Torres established the string length at 25 9/16". That is to say the point of contact from the edge of the nut to the tip of the bridge. The 25 9/16" length has proven over the years to be the most musically balanced, and mellow of all string lengths.
It is known to those skilled in the guitar art that there are two types of string tuning. One type of tuning is referred to as pitch, or fine tuning, which is accomplished by increasing or decreasing the tension in a given string by means of tuning keys or the like, thereby raising or lowering, respectively, the pitch of the string. The other type of string tuning is referred to as harmonic or length tuning, which is accomplished by altering the distance between the points at which a given string contacts the bridge and nut elements of the instrument.
Many prominent designers in their demand to come up with a louder guitar have compromised the 25 9/16" length in order to have a louder guitar. To understand this more completely, see the following formula: ##EQU1##
The main purpose of the bridge is to allow the string length to remain at 25 9/16" yet increase volume levels equal to or surpassing that of a guitar with a longer string length. A longer string length may still be used with the bridge of the invention.